From the Mind of Trevor Stone

I depart for Dragonfest tomorrow early afternoon. I'll be back (but tired) on Sunday afternoon, and will be out of touch in the mean time. I'll probably check my email tomorrow morning and hopefully won't misclassify any important messages as spam when I get back.

Recently...

On Thursday I ran into Boulder's Bicycle Freak Parade (AKA Happy Thursday) as they were circling the Buffalo outside Folsom Field. The crowd was full of guys in drag, bikes with crazy lights, and other absurdities. A guy had a pink flamingo in a pink boa attached to his helmet, another guy had a stereo system on a trailer behind his bike playing stuff like YMCA and Wild Thing. There were some pretty funky bikes, including a tricycle with two large chariot wheels under a bench where two people sat side-by-side and pedaled, turning the back bicycle wheel with a crank. Most folks had a horn or a bell. The best I could muster was turning my headlamp to red and pointing it at my face while ringing my bell. It was one of the few occasions I've been one of the most normal looking people in a crowd of people. Calling lots of attention to ourselves, we rode around campus, the Hill, and downtown before folks dispersed at Connor O'Niels. It was quite definitely the most gay thing I've done in a while.

Next time I meet up with them I should be on a unicycle. With several false starts, I'm able to mount and ride my unicycle for a couple blocks now. I'm taking it to DFest so I can do one-wheeled heraldry rounds.

After a bunch of Internet research I couldn't find much of a compelling reason to prefer one brand over another in a similar-featured camera. I went to Mike's Camera and talked to a sales clerk, who hooked me up with a Pentax Optio 33L. It's 3 megapixels, 3x optical zoom, and compact flash (which I think I prefer). It's one downside is it lacks an optical viewfinder, but the LCD panel has serious swivel action, and I can probably take steadier pictures without my nose next to the camera. I also got AA batteries and a recharger, 128MB of CF memory, and a carrying case, totalling $446 even with tax. I'm glad I went to Mike's because (a) I got to talk to someone who could explain the subtle differences between similar models, (b) I didn't have to deal with shipping and hence (c) I can take it to Dragonfest and, (d) if I don't like it, I can exchange it in a week for a similar camera (assuming I can keep it in mint while camping). Since (e) the price was competitive with online vendors, I didn't spend too much and (f) felt good about supporting local independent business, keeping money within the Boulder economy.

It seems I indirectly paid for pizza. If that's one of the ingredients of Cat and Girl, I'm down with it.
The end.